* 


American  Board 

of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 

i 

Survey  of  the  Fields 

1914-1915 

By  James  L.  Barton 

Foreign  Secretary 


Boston 

Congregational  House,  1915 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/surveyoffields1900bart_0 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS,  1914-1915 

By  JAMES  L.  BARTON,  Foreign  Secretary 


THE  FIELD 

It  is  not  out  of  place  in  a  survey 
of  the  work  of  the  American  Board 
to  pause  a  moment  for  a  comprehen¬ 
sive  glance  over  the  field  occupied.  It 
has  often  been  said  that  the  sun  never 
sets  upon  its  work  and  workers;  we 
can  even  say  that  at  some  point  in 
the  great  work  there  is  never  a  time 
when  it  is  not  within  two  hours  of 
high  noon.  In  other  words,  our  work 
reaches  around  the  world  and  has  a 
hold  upon  every  continent.  From 
north  to  south  it  covers  80°  of  lati¬ 
tude,  from  30°  South  to  50°  North. 
And  yet  in  this  outreaching  work,  in 
normal  times,  there  are  but  few  of 
the  more  than  600  missionaries  who 
cannot  be  reached  by  cable  in  a  few 
hours.  This  gives  a  sense  of  com¬ 
pactness  and  accessibility  to  the  work 
that  was  greatly  lacking  even  a  gen¬ 
eration  ago.  This  has  made  possible 
closer  cooperative  action  between  the 
Prudential  Committee  at  home  and 
the  missions  abroad. 

DEPARTMENTS 

The  departments  of  missionary  ac¬ 
tivities  have  often  been  mentioned, 
and  yet  these  are  so  vast  and  varied 
that  we  are  in  danger  of  losing  sight 
of  them  or  of  thinking  of  them  con¬ 
fusedly.  In  speaking  of  departments 
let  no  one  think  of  water-tight  com¬ 
partments.  Few  missionaries  give 
themselves  exclusively  to  any  one  de¬ 
partment,  and  not  infrequently  every 
phase  of  action  is  found  in  a  single 
station. 

The  evangelistic  work  is  found  ev¬ 
erywhere.  It  stands  by  itself  and  is 
interlocked  with  every  other  depart¬ 
ment.  Every  missionary  is  regarded 
an  evangelist,  and  the  entire  work 
points  to  the  creation  and  perfection 
of  the  church  as  the  dominant  moral 
and  spiritual  force  in  every  country. 


The  educational  work  includes  all 
kinds  of  teaching  in  every  form  and 
grade.  It  looks  to  the  training  of  na¬ 
tive  Christian  leaders  to  be  teachers, 
preachers,  pastors,  Bible  readers,  and 
Christian  workers  of  every  kind.  It 
also  aims  at  developing  a  lay  Chris¬ 
tian  leadership  in  every  community. 
From  the  pupils  in  the  schools  there 
come  the  largest  permanent  acces¬ 
sions  to  the  churches.  The  school 
with  its  permanent,  eager,  intelligent 
audience  is  an  inspiring  field  for  the 
Christian  teacher. 

The  literary  department  has  charge 
of  the  printing  presses,  the  making 
of  spiritual  and  educational  books, 
the  publication  of  periodicals  for 
children  and  adults,  and  in  fact  it 
is  here  that  Christian  instruction  is 
put  into  permanent  form  for  all 
classes  of  society.  It  requires  no 
stretch  of  imagination  to  see  the  per¬ 
manent  evangelizing  value  of  the  lit¬ 
erary  output. 

Industrial  operations  are  varied  but 
effective.  In  some  countries,  like  In¬ 
dia  and  Africa,  to  learn  to  do  some¬ 
thing  or  make  something  well  with 
the  hands  is  to  enter  upon  an  entirely 
new  career.  Many  intellects  are 
awakened  in  this  way  that  otherwise 
would  always  have  remained  slug¬ 
gish.  The  Christian  communities  are 
and  should  be  the  most  constructively 
industrious  and  so  the  most  prosper¬ 
ous  of  all.  In  this  department  the 
pupils  come  to  learn  that  in  the 
Christian  church  and  community 
there  is  little  place  for  the  sluggard, 
and  that  he  who  will  not  work  neither 
shall  he  eat.  Here  true  strength  of 
character  and  real  self-respecting 
manhood  and  womanhood  are  created. 

The  medical  work  needs  no  explana¬ 
tion.  It  carries  comfort,  blessing, 
and  a  demonstration  of  the  value  of 
human  life  to  every  land  it  enters, 
and,  under  the  hand  of  the  Christian 


4 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


physician  and  nurse,  preaches  the 
compassionate  Christ  in  a  language 
that  cannot  be  misunderstood.  It  is  a 
powerful  arm  of  the  service  that 
reaches  beyond  the  parish  of  the 
preacher,  penetrates  beneath  the  slug¬ 
gish  intellect  of  the  mentally  dull, 
and  appeals  to  the  conscious  needs  of 
every  class  in  every  land. 

Everything  done  by  the  missionaries 
and  the  great  army  of  native  workers 
in  their  daily  and  even  hourly  contact 
with  the  people  with  whom  they  live 
is  a  social  service  rendered  in  the 
name  of  the  Christ.  The  Christian 
home  planted  in  the  midst  of  pagan¬ 
ism,  the  family  reared  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  Christian  civ¬ 
ilization,  the  interchange  of  visits,  the 
ministrations  to  the  sick  in  the  homes, 
the  enlargement  of  the  industrial 
horizon,  and  the  awakened  conception 
of  neighborliness  and  brotherhood  all 
are  but  a  part  of  the  social  service 
rendered  through  this  missionary  and 
Christian  settlement  method  of  ap¬ 
proach  to  the  civilizations  of  the  East. 

All  that  is  written  or  proclaimed  in 
regard  to  the  foreign  side  of  our  work 
comes  under  one  or  more  of  the  above 
six  departments,  although  each  is 
aimed  at  introducing  to  the  races  of 
Asia  and  Africa  the  living  Christ. 

THE  WAR 

The  War  has  cast  a  dark  shadow 
over  nearly  all  the  fields  in  which  the 
Board  works.  Austria,  Turkey,  South 
Africa,  the  Marshall  and  Gilbert  Is¬ 
lands  have  been  v/renched  and  torn 
by  the  struggle,  while  Mexico  has  had 
troubles  of  its  own,  and  the  Balkans 
have  waited  under  uncertainties. 

In  Austria  the  missionaries  have 
remained  in  their  places,  suffering 
hardship  with  their  people  and  carry¬ 
ing  to  broken  hearts  the  consolations 
of  the  Christ.  The  call  for  Testa¬ 
ments  upon  the  part  of  the  soldiers 
has  been  wonderful.  There  has  been 
no  period  when  the  missionaries  could 
not  have  left,  but  not  a  suggestion  has 
come  from  them  that  they  had  ever 
thought  of  leaving. 


Of  Turkey  we  speak  more  at  length 
elsewhere.  In  the  Balkans  there  has 
been  no  actual  fighting  in  the  vicinity 
of  our  work,  and  everything  has  pro¬ 
ceeded  in  a  fairly  normal  way.  For 
a  considerable  period  the  South  Af¬ 
rica  Mission  was  under  martial  law 
and  much  uncertainty  prevailed.  The 
Marshall  Islands  were  captured  by  the 
Japanese  and  our  missionaries  there, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Maas,  who  are  Germans, 
were  interned  until  the  end  of  the 
war.  We  learn  that  they  are  well 
cared  for.  The  Misses  Baldwin  and 
Miss  Hoppin  were  given  the  privilege 
of  leaving,  which  they  did  not  care  to 
accept.  For  a  time  they  were  refused 
the  privilege  of  the  mails,  but  that 
has  now  been  corrected. 

In  Mexico  our  missionaries  have 
withdrawn  from  the  south  and  have 
concentrated,  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendations  of  the  Cincinnati 
Conference,  in  the  northern  states  of 
Chihuahua  and  Sonora.  Politically 
the  outlook  has  not  been  clear  at  any 
time  during  the  year,  but  at  Chihua¬ 
hua  they  have  been  engaged  in  erect¬ 
ing  a  new  girls’  school  building,  while 
existing  schools  have  gone  on  about  as 
usual.  For  this  work  times  were 
favorable,  as  the  price  of  gold  was 
abnormally  high. 

Other  missions  have  been  little  af¬ 
fected,  except  that  India  and  Ceylon 
have  maintained  a  strict  censorship 
of  the  mails,  as  has  also  Turkey. 
Many  missionaries  going  and  coming 
from  India  have  taken  the  Pacific 
route  to  avoid  the  war  zone,  and  no 
missionaries  at  all  have  been  sent  to 
Turkey.  We  now  have  three  new  mis¬ 
sionaries  appointed  to  Turkey  study¬ 
ing  Turkish  and  Islam  in  Egypt,  wait¬ 
ing  to  enter  the  country  as  soon  as 
the  door  opens.  In  Switzerland  there 
are  four  Turkish  missionaries,  who 
have  been  sent  out  of  the  country, 
waiting  to  go  back,  and  also  one  fam¬ 
ily  in  Salonica.  There  are  six  mis¬ 
sionaries  to  Turkey  in  England  ready 
to  move  upon  short  notice. 

The  political  agitations  in  China 
have  not  interfered  with  the  work, 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


5 


while  West  Africa  has  pushed  on  in 
peace  and  quiet  in  the  reorganization 
of  the  mission,  with  its  central  station 
at  Dondi. 

TURKEY 

It  is  upon  Turkey  and  the  Arme¬ 
nians  that  the  heaviest  and  most  de¬ 
structive  blow  of  the  year  has  fallen. 
At  this  hour  of  writing  no  one  can 
predict  what  the  outcome  for  the  race 
is  to  be.  Many  have  escaped  to  Per¬ 
sia,  Russia,  Egypt,  and  elsewhere;  but 
we  know  that  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  them,  including  professors  and 
teachers  in  our  schools,  pastors  and 
preachers,  pupils,  and  all  other  classes, 
have  miserably  perished  at  home,  or 
have  died  of  exposure  upon  the 
road  towards  Northern  Arabia  or 
elsewhere,  where  vast  multitudes  have 
been  exiled.  Everything  possible  that 
the  missionaries,  the  United  States 
Consuls,  and  the  Ambassador  could  do 
to  save  this  people  from  their  terrible 
fate  was  done,  but  to  little  avail. 

Probably  in  all  of  the  history  of 
missions,  two  hundred  missionaries 
have  never  been  called  to  pass  through 
more  terrible  experiences  than  have 
our  missionaries  in  Turkey  during 
the  last  nine  or  ten  months,  and  the 
end  is  not  yet.  Not  only  have  they 
seen  their  schools  and  the  churches 
broken  up  and  those  for  whom  and 
with  whom  they  have  labored  for  a 
lifetime  miserably  and  cruelly  dealt 
with,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
have  often  been  personally  mal¬ 
treated,  with  their  lives  in  jeopardy. 
There  has  never  been  a  period  when 
these  heroes  and  heroines  of  Moslem 
missions  so  needed  the  assurance  of 
sympathetic  support  from  all  of  the 
constituency  of  the  Board  and  their 
constant  prayers  for  personal  protec¬ 
tion  and  for  spiritual  fortitude  and 
power. 

KEYNOTE:  EVANGELISM 

In  the  direct  work  the  keynote  of 
the  year  in  practically  every  field  of 
the  Board  has  been  “evangelism.” 
This  has  seemed  to  come  about  in  the 


most  natural  way  in  each  mission  area 
with  little  reference  to  what  was  go¬ 
ing  on  in  other  areas.'  While  there 
has  been  no  deterioration  in  the  other 
great  departments  of  action,  all  the 
forces  of  most  missions  have  with 
special  emphasis  directed  effort  to 
reaching  men  and  masses  with  the 
positive  message  of  the  Gospel. 

In  Japan  our  mission  has  united 
with  the  great  majority  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  body  in  promoting  a  three-year 
evangelistic  campaign.  That  effort  is 
now  at  its  height.  The  work  was  in¬ 
augurated  by  the  observance  through¬ 
out  the  empire  of  a  day  of  special 
prayer.  Prominent  laymen  not  only 
gave  liberally  for  the  support  of  the 
campaign,  but  many  in  person  joined 
the  bands  and  upon  the  platform  and 
in  personal  approach  gave  powerful 
testimony  to  the  transforming  power 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Wher¬ 
ever  the  leaders  have  gone  they  have 
been  met  with  packed  houses  and 
their  message  accorded  thoughtful 
hearing. 

Important  centers  in  three  of  the 
main  islands  have  been  reached,  large 
audiences  have  been  attracted,  and 
thousands  of  inquirers  have  been  en¬ 
rolled.  In  some  cases  already  the 
churches  have  reported  large  ingath¬ 
erings.  The  plan  contemplates  reach¬ 
ing  every  town  in  the  empire  in  a 
way  to  give  all  an  opportunity  to  hear 
the  Gospel  in  simplicity  and  power. 
In  this  united  endeavor  the  mission¬ 
aries  and  the  Japanese  leaders  of  all 
Protestant  communions  join.  The 
meetings  were  generally  held  in 
churches ;  but  also  theaters  and  public 
halls  are  used  for  gatherings  too  large 
for  the  churches.  Even  Government 
school  buildings  have  been  frequently 
occupied  at  the  request  of  the  school. 
Government  officers  and  persons  of 
influence  in  the  community  in  most 
places  arranged  for  a  public  welcome 
meeting  for  the  evangelistic  band. 
The  leaders  feel  certain  that  the  large 
results  already  achieved  are  but  a 
forecast  of  what  may  reasonably  be 
expected  during  the  year  to  come. 


6 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


There  is  a  spirit  of  anticipation  and 
expectancy  within  and  without  the 
church  that  speaks  well  for  the  second 
year  of  the  campaign. 

In  China  all  report  a  field  peculiarly 
ripe.  Those  who  have  followed  the 
story  of  the  China  missions  for  the 
last  two  years  recall  the  evangelistic 
campaign  conducted  there  a  little 
more  than  a  year  ago  by  Dr.  Mott  and 
Mr.  Sherwood  Eddy.  The  response 
then  was  phenomenal,  as  tens  of 
thousands  came  to  hear  the  message, 
while  thousands  signed  cards  express¬ 
ing  the  desire  and  purpose  to  search 
into  the  content  of  Christianity.  The 
missionaries,  in  spite  of  the  prepara¬ 
tion  made  in  advance,  were  taxed  to 
the  utmost  to  find  suitable  teachers 
to  guide  and  to  train  this  mass  of  in¬ 
quirers.  Among  these  seekers  after 
the  truth  were  men  of  official  rank, 
students  in  large  numbers,  and  others. 
This  awakening  reached  throughout 
the  country,  and  the  force  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  organization  was  directed  to 
meeting  this  supreme  call  for  Chris¬ 
tian  instruction.  The  correspondence 
with  all  the  missions  throughout  the 
year  has  dwelt  upon  the  opportunities 
opening  everywhere  to  meet  the 
earnest  inquiry  of  the  Chinese  as  to 
what  is  true  in  relation  to  God,  to 
Christ,  to  sin,  and  to  redemption,  and 
the  inadequacy  of  the  force  upon  the 
field  to  meet  that  opportunity. 

A  plan  was  contemplated  this  fall 
and  winter  for  the  Eddy  brothers, 
Sherwood  and  our  own  Brewer,  to 
visit  Japan,  China,  and  India  upon  a 
purely  evangelistic  tour.  The  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  China  entered  an  almost 
united  protest  upon  the  sole  ground 
that  with  their  present  missionary 
and  native  forces  they  would  be 
wholly  unable  to  care  for  more  in¬ 
quirers.  Already  for  China  the  win¬ 
dows  of  heaven  had  been  opened  and 
a  blessing  poured  out  that  the  church 
and  its  working  force  were  not  able 
fully  to  receive.  Chapters  only  could 
give  a  fair  estimate  of  the  desire  for 
Bible  study,  eagerness  to  hear  the 
preacher  of  righteousness,  readiness 


to  unite  with  the  church.  The  story 
reads  like  a  modern  Acts  of  the  Apos¬ 
tles,  as  it  really  is,  where  great  multi¬ 
tudes  of  such  as  are  being  saved  are 
proclaiming  themselves  followers  of 
Christ.  If  we  could  double  the  num¬ 
ber  of  our  missionaries  in  China  to¬ 
day  and  quadruple  the  Chinese  preach¬ 
ing  force,  we  would  not  in  the  least 
degree  overstaff  the  work,  but  would 
be  more  adequately  ready  to  gather  in 
the  waving  harvest. 

An  evangelistic  campaign  is  now 
commanding  the  attention  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  Southern  India  and  Cey¬ 
lon.  To  use  the  language  of  Mr.  Ban- 
ninga,  of  the  Madura  Mission,  “There 
has  been  an  earnest  desire  growing  in 
the  hearts  of  many  for  a  revival  of 
religion  that  should  reveal  itself  in 
increased  righteousness  and  faith 
among  Christians  and  in  a  great  in¬ 
gathering  of  those  at  present  outside 
the  fold.”  This  desire  was  expressed 
in  the  convention  meetings  in  Sep¬ 
tember,  1914,  and  finally,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  President  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  United 
Church  of  South  India,  the  campaign 
was  launched.  The  plan  differs  but 
little  from  that  in  operation  in  Japan, 
except  that  in  India  a  longer  period 
of  preparation  is  contemplated.  A 
special  literature  for  the  purposes  of 
the  movement  has  been  printed,  and  a 
special  pledge  card  is  circulated 
among  the  Christians,  pledging  the 
signer  to  the  setting  apart  of  a  defi¬ 
nite  portion  of  each  day  for  interces¬ 
sion,  also  pledging  him  to  definite 
Christian  service.  Prayer  circles  are 
widely  organized,  and  Dr.  Tracy  has 
been  released  to  visit  the  centers  and 
aid  the  churches  and  leaders  in  a 
careful  and  thorough  work  of  prepa¬ 
ration.  Already  in  these  preparative 
meetings,  in  many  places,  large  in¬ 
gatherings  from  the  non-Christians 
have  been  experienced,  in  addition  to 
a  quickening  of  the  Christian  life  and 
faith  of  the  members  of  the  churches. 
Here  too  in  India,  as  in  Japan  and 
China,  the  missionaries  and  the  native 
forces  unite  in  prayer  and  endeavor. 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


7 


The  United  Church  of  South  India 
represents  a  Christian  community  of 
some  140,000  individuals,  including 
several  different  communions.  What 
may  we  not  expect  when  these  differ¬ 
ent  missions  and  native  leaders,  with 
one  heart  and  purpose,  unite  in  a  sin¬ 
gle  endeavor  for  all  that  great,  needy 
country?  This  Indian  movement 
demonstrates  the  value  and  power  of 
a  great  body  of  Christians,  represent¬ 
ing  different  missions,  acting  together 
as  a  unit  and  presenting  not  only  to 
the  church  but  to  the  non-Christian 
community  the  evidence  of  fraternal 
fellowship  and  cooperation.  The  pre¬ 
parative  work  is  now  well  under  way, 
but  the  results  even  at  this  stage  are 
richly  encouraging. 

In  Turkey  when  the  war  broke  out, 
and  even  since,  there  was  a  strong 
movement  looking  towards  the  non- 
Christians  of  that  country.  Oppor¬ 
tunities  of  approach  both  in  the  class 
room  and  outside  were  unprecedented 
in  all  our  long  experience  there.  A 
growing  spirit  of  daring  upon  the 
part  of  the  missionaries  and  of  open 
inquiry  upon  the  part  of  the  others 
opened  the  way  for  the  Christian  ap¬ 
proach.  Conversions  were  reported 
since  the  war  began,  while  opportuni¬ 
ties  for  personal  conversation  were 
multiplying  far  more  rapidly  than  at 
any  previous  period  in  the  history  of 
our  work  in  Turkey.  It  may  be  that 
when  this  storm  of  destruction  has 
spent  its  fury,  we  shall  find  a  new 
door  opening  for  a  new  Christian  en¬ 
deavor  among  those  hitherto  largely 
unreached. 

Space  will  not  permit  our  mention¬ 
ing  the  various  evangelistic  move¬ 
ments  in  the  three  missions  in  Africa, 
the  wonderful  awakening  among  the 
tribes  in  Northern  Mindanao,  and  the 
hew  consciousness  of  spiritual  respon¬ 
sibility  among  the  churches  in  Spain. 
Probably  in  the  entire  century  of  our 
work  there  has  never  been  a  period 
when  there  seemed  to  be  such  a  uni¬ 
versal  turning  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
such  a  consciousness  of  responsibility 
for  the  unevangelized  upon  the  part  of 


the  churches.  Perhaps  this  is  one  of 
God’s  compensations  to  the  world  for 
the  awful  sacrifice  caused  by  the  war. 

BLEEDING  TURKEY 

At  the  time  of  the  entrance  of  Tur¬ 
key  into  the  war,  mission  work  there 
in  all  its  diversified  departments  was 
never  more  full  of  promise.  It  is  true 
that  for  three  or  four  years  the  cen¬ 
tral  government  had  been  insufferably 
weak,  but  the  relations  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  with  the  local  official  author¬ 
ities  were,  in  nearly  every  instance, 
friendly  and  even  cordial.  Large  au¬ 
thority  was  given  the  responsible 
governors  of  the  provinces,  and  as  a 
consequence  mission  institutions  suf¬ 
fered  little  from  the  lack  of  a  central¬ 
ized  government. 

The  hospitals  were  crowded  with 
patients ;  the  schools  were  never  so 
well  attended;  new  buildings  were  in 
process  of  erection,  or  were  contem¬ 
plated,  at  Van,  Sivas,  Marsovan, 
Oorfa,  Adana,  Smyrna,  Hadjin,  Ain- 
tab  and  Diarbekir;  loud  and  persist¬ 
ent  calls  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
empire  for  reenforcements  to  meet 
the  needs  and  opportunities  of  the  ex¬ 
panding  work. 

There  had  never  been  so  many 
Moslem  pupils  in  Christian  schools, 
and  the  general  relations  between  the 
Mohammedans  and  Armenians  had 
not  been  so  satisfactory  for  a  genera¬ 
tion,  although  the  relations  with  the 
Greeks  upon  the  west  were  more 
strained.  A  score  or  so  of  new  re¬ 
cruits  for  various  positions  in  the 
three  Asiatic  Turkey  Missions  had 
been  appointed  and  were  about  to  sail 
for  their  field  of  labor  when  the  storm 
broke  and  Turkey  became  one  of  the 
belligerents  upon  the  side  of  the  Cen¬ 
tral  Powers. 

CANADIAN  MISSIONARIES 

Some  thirty-six  missionaries  and 
assistant  missionaries  of  our  Board 
in  Turkey  at  the  time  were  British 
subjects,  mostly  Canadians.  The 
Board  provided  each,  through  our 


8 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


Ambassador,  with  a  formidably  sealed 
and  executed  document  declaring  that 
the  party  named  therein  was  a  mis¬ 
sionary  of  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
an  American  Corporation,  and  there¬ 
fore  entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  pro¬ 
tection  belonging  to  such.  Barring 
two  or  three  exceptions,  these  British 
subjects  have  been  little  disturbed, 
the  Ambassador  at  Constantinople 
having  secured  from  Turkish  authori¬ 
ties  formal  permission  for  them  to  re¬ 
main  at  their  posts.  Three  families 
of  British  missionaries  have  come  out 
of  the  country  for  one  reason  or  an¬ 
other,  but  only  one  of  these  was  prac¬ 
tically  forced  to  do  so. 

TREATY  RIGHTS  ABROGATED 

The  abrogation  of  the  capitulations 
by  decree,  in  September  of  last  year, 
threatened  for  a  time  to  close  up  all 
foreign  schools  in  the  country.  Mr. 
Morgenthau,  the  Ambassador,  took 
up  the  matter  with  vigor  and  was  able 
to  secure  the  postponement  of  the  ex¬ 
ecution  of  the  order  until  last  Sep¬ 
tember.  The  original  decree  has  been 
considerably  modified,  so  that  schools 
have  been  given  permission  to  open 
this  fall  under  condition  that,  while 
Christian  studies  and  exercises  and 
instruction  may  be  made  obligatory 
for  Christians,  they  must  be  optional 
for  non-Christians,  and  that  Turkish 
must  be  taught  to  Ottomans.  It  has 
seemed  wise,  under  the  circumstances, 
to  accept  these  conditions  for  the 
present. 

WAR  AND  DISEASE 

Only  the  northeastern  and  south¬ 
eastern  parts  of  Turkey  were  seri¬ 
ously  affected  by  the  war  until  Galli¬ 
poli  was  attacked  in  April.  Trebi- 
zond,  Erzroom,  Van,  and  Bitlis,  being 
near  the  border  of  Russia,  fell  within 
the  zone  of  the  conflict  with  the  Cau¬ 
casus  division  of  the  Russian  army. 
Harpoot  was  also  considerably  af¬ 
fected,  since  it  is  on  the  line  of  march 
of  the  troops  passing  from  the  south 
to  the  northeast. 


At  first  there  was  no  actual  fighting 
in  any  one  of  these  places,  except 
sporadic  bombardment  of  Trebizond, 
yet  into  Erzroom  and  Van  many  of 
the  wounded  were  brought  from  bat¬ 
tle  fields  not  far  away.  At  the  same 
time,  owing  to  the  assembling  of 
large  numbers  of  troops  under  unsani¬ 
tary  conditions,  typhus  broke  out  with 
great  virulence  in  Erzroom  and  Har¬ 
poot.  In  the  former  place  in  the  au¬ 
tumn  and  winter  there  were  over  300 
deaths  a  day,  and  at  Harpoot  some 
60.  The  missionaries  threw  them¬ 
selves  into  the  work  of  ministering  to 
the  needs  of  the  suffering.  Dr.  Clark, 
Miss  Graffam,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Sewny, 
and  Miss  Zenger  went  from  Sivas  to 
Erzroom  to  render  aid.  Dr.  Sewny 
and  Miss  Zenger  died  there  of  typhus, 
and  Dr.  Case  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Staple- 
ton  contracted  the  dread  disease  but 
recovered.  Several  missionaries  at 
Harpoot  also  came  near  to  death’s 
door  through  the  same  disease. 
Wounded  and  sick  soldiers  were  cared 
for  also  at  Mardin  and  Van. 

PROPERTY  TAKEN 

In  the  spring,  when  Harpoot  was 
made  a  military  center  of  considerable 
importance,  several  of  the  buildings 
of  Euphrates  College  were  voluntarily 
given  over  to  the  authorities  for  the 
use  of  the  army.  Fearing  that  the 
large  dormitory  might  be  taken,  the 
United  States  Consul,  Mr.  Davis,  put 
his  official  seal  upon  its  locked  door. 
This  seal  was  ostentatiously  broken 
by  the  Kaimakam  of  Harpoot,  and  so 
since  March  the  college  has  discon¬ 
tinued  its  work  altogether  because  its 
buildings  were  occupied  by  the  mili¬ 
tary.  Although  the  soldiers  were 
withdrawn  in  July,  the  buildings  have 
been  retained  in  the  possession  of  the 
government. 

The  mission  buildings  at  Afion 
Kara  Hissar  were  early  taken  posses¬ 
sion  of  by  the  government,  as  was  the 
school  building  at  Adabazar.  The 
new  hospital  at  Marsovan  was  offered 
to  the  military,  who  occupied  it  one 
month,  when  it  was  vacated. 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


9 


In  its  dealing  with  Americans  the 
othcials  have  assumed  that  the  decree 
of  abrogation  of  the  capitulations  has 
put  all  foreigners  under  local  official 
control.  As  a  result  their  houses  as 
well  as  their  persons  have  been 
searched  repeatedly,  their  communi¬ 
cations  with  the  United  States  Con¬ 
suls  and  even  with  the  Ambassador 
have  often  been  suppressed,  their 
movements  seriously  obstructed,  and 
in  one  instance,  that  of  ‘Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  at  Diarbekir,  they  were  ar¬ 
rested  and  sent  out  of  the  country  by 
court-martial.  No  charges  worthy  of 
consideration  against  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  were  preferred.  Several  mis¬ 
sionaries  have  suffered  brief  periods 
of  imprisonment. 

DISASTER  AT  VAN 

Van  has  been  for  generations  the 
stronghold  of  the  Armenians  of  Tur¬ 
key.  In  that  vilayet  Armenians  con¬ 
stitute  a  larger  proportion  of  the  pop¬ 
ulation  than  in  any  other  vilayet  in 
the  empire.  In  addition,  they  are 
alert,  able,  many  of  them  well  edu¬ 
cated,  and  all  have  had  visions  of  a 
possible  autonomous  Armenia. 

Early  in  the  war  a  large  number  of 
Armenians  entered  the  Turkish  army, 
while  others  fled  to  Russia  and  joined 
the  Russian  army  with  their  na¬ 
tionals  who  occupy  the  Armenian 
provinces  captured  by  Russia  from 
Turkey  in  1878. 

After  the  war  began  the  Van  Ar¬ 
menians  approached  the  Governor  of 
Van,  Djevdet  Bey,  and  assured  him 
that  it  was  their  purpose  to  be  loyal 
to  the  Turkish  Government.  Their 
assurance  was  not  accepted,  and  in  or¬ 
der  to  save  themselves  from  destruc¬ 
tion  they  were  compelled  to  resist 
the  Ottoman  forces.  The  missionary 
premises  chanced  to  be  in  the  Arme¬ 
nian  quarter  of  the  city,  and  therefore 
fell  within  the  Armenian  fortifica¬ 
tions.  For  five  weeks  the  station  was 
under  fire,  and  during  the  last  days  of 
the  siege  the  guns  of  the  Turkish 
forces  were  trained  upon  the  mission 
premises.  While  the  buildings  were 


much  injured  no  harm  came  to  the 
missionary  body.  Some  10,000  refu¬ 
gees  from  the  villages  were  gathered 
upon  and  about  the  station.  The 
siege  was  followed  by  an  epidemic  of 
dysentery,  preceding  typhus.  This 
broke  out  among  the  1,000  Moslem 
refugees  for  whom  the  missionaries 
were  caring  on  the  premises.  Five  of 
the  missionaries  were  attacked  by  ty¬ 
phus.  Mrs.  Ussher,  worn  out  by  the 
strain  of  the  siege,  was  unable  to 
rally  and  she  passed  away.  The 
others,  Miss  Rogers,  Dr.  Ussher,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yarrow,  were  recovering 
when  Van  was  recaptured  by  the 
Turkish  forces,  and  the  entire  station, 
ill  and  without  preparation  for  the 
journey,  was  compelled  to  flee  with 
the  retreating  Russians  to  Tiflis. 

Mrs.  Raynolds’  leg  was  broken  in 
the  flight.  She  lingered  for  a  brief 
period  and  passed  away  at  Tiflis 
two  days  before  the  arrival  of  Dr. 
Raynolds,  who  had  set  out  for  Van 
when  it  was  known  that  Russia  had 
captured  that  part  of  the  country. 
Owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  premises  at  Van  and  the  uncer¬ 
tainties  surrounding  the  future  of 
that  part  of  the  country,  the  entire 
Van  station  came  to  the  United  States, 
arriving  October  4. 

OTHER  STATIONS 

When  Van  was  captured  by  the 
Russians  the  Turks  retreating  to¬ 
wards  Bitlis  took  with  them  Miss 
McLaren,  who  was  caring  for  the 
wounded  in  the  Turkish  hospital. 
Since  the  death  of  Miss  Charlotte  Ely 
at  Bitlis  in  July  and  the  departure  of 
the  Maynards  upon  their  overdue  fur¬ 
lough,  the  Bitlis  station  was  made  up 
of  Misses  Shane  and  McLaren  and 
Rev.  George  P.  Knapp.  In  August, 
the  Armenians  at  Bitlis  having  been 
massacred  or  deported,  Mr.  Knapp  set 
out  for  Oorfa  to  aid  Mr.  Leslie  but 
was  taken  ill  upon  the  road  and  died 
at  Diarbekir.  A  recent  cable  dis¬ 
patch  reports  Miss  McLaren  and  Miss 
Shane  safe  and  well  at  Bitlis. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stapleton  at  Erzroom, 


io 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


whose  furlough  was  already  more 
than  a  year  overdue,  declined  to  leave 
the  station  this  summer  and  have  re¬ 
mained  there  to  minister  to  the  sick 
and  needy.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Case  are 
also  there.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Crawford 
have  held  the  fort  alone  at  Trebizond. 

Space  will  not  permit  a  complete 
survey  of  the  work  and  status  of  each 
station  during  this  year  of  disorder, 
sorrow,  and  death.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  the  missionaries  have  stood  by 
their  stations  with  self-forgetful  for¬ 
titude  and  daring,  a  few  of  them  leav¬ 
ing  for  home  only  when  all  of  the 
populations  for  which  they  were  at 
work  had  been  killed  or  deported.  The 
Board  has  thought  it  wise  to  have  a 
considerable  number  of  missionaries 
well  rested  and  ready  to  return  to 
Turkey  as  soon  as  the  way  opens. 

BLOODY  BAPTISM 

During  the  last  six  months  each 
mission  station  has  passed  through  a 
baptism  of  wrath  and  blood.  This 
was  more  severe,  if  possible,  in  the 
northern  and  eastern  part  of  the  coun¬ 
try  than  in  the  south,  and  involved 
only  the  Armenians.  Without  at¬ 
tempting  to  go  into  the  gruesome  and 
heart-rending  details,  it  is  enough  to 
add  that  teachers  from  our  schools 
have  been  tortured,  imprisoned,  exe¬ 
cuted;  and  others  with  their  pupils, 
as  well  as  all  the  rest  of  the  Armenian 
population  of  places  like  Bitlis,  Erz- 
room,  Marsovan,  Sivas,  Harpoot,  etc., 
have  been  sent,  without  preparation 
for  the  journey,  down  towards  the 
deserts  of  Northern  Arabia  to  perish. 
In  some  cases,  as  in  that  of  Miss 
Graff  am  at  Sivas,  and  of  the  Misses 
Willard  and  Gage,  of  Marsovan,  the 
missionaries  were  permitted  to  start 
out  with  their  women  and  girls,  but 
they  were  soon  turned  back  by  the  offi¬ 
cials.  Never  has  such  an  attack  been 
made  upon  a  race.  The  plans  seem  to 
be  of  a  generally  uniform  character, 
and  the  officials  openly  declare  that 
nothing  less  than  the  complete  de¬ 
struction  of  the  race  is  contemplated. 
At  this  writing  all  the  facts  are  yet  un¬ 


known.  Enough,  however,  is  revealed 
to  show  that  no  reports  have  been 
exaggerated,  while  daily  revelations 
show  that  the  atrocities  perpetrated 
upon  defenseless  men  and  innocent 
women  and  children  surpass  anything 
history  has  ever  recorded.  Ambassa¬ 
dor  Morgenthau  has  done  everything 
in  his  power  to  protect  the  mission¬ 
aries  and  their  interests;  but  in  the 
face  of  the  determined  purpose  of 
Enver  Pasha  and  Talaat  Bey,  he  has 
not  been  able  to  keep  the  Turks  from 
seizing  and  holding  the  American 
Board  property  at  Afion  Kara  Hissar, 
Adabazar,  and  Harpoot,  and  perhaps 
at  some  other  places.  The  abrogation 
of  the  capitulations,  or,  as  they  call  it, 
“the  withdrawal  of  the  rights  of  for¬ 
eigners/’  gave  the  Turks  occasion  to 
declare  that  neither  the  Ambassador 
nor  the  United  States  Consuls  had  any 
authority  over  American  subjects,  al¬ 
though  they  did  not  always  consist¬ 
ently  carry  out  this  assumption. 

At  this  writing,  the  situation 
throughout  the  Ottoman  Empire  is 
in  chaos.  Only  the  station  at  Van  has 
been  abandoned,  but  all  work  is  at  a 
standstill.  Relief  measures  are  the 
order  of  the  day,  but  to  these  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  presents  many  obstacles. 
The  way  in  which  the  missionaries 
have  carried  themselves  during  these 
many  months  of  almost  unendurable 
agony  and  suspense  has  commended 
their  religion  to  the  persecuting 
forces  and  in  many  instances  has 
opened  the  minds  of  the  Moslems  to 
a  more  favorable  consideration  of 
Christianity. 

RECONSTRUCTION 

When  the  conflict  over  Turkey 
ceases,  there  must  begin  the  work  of 
reconstruction.  We  have  reason  to 
believe  that  a  future  of  marvelous 
possibilities  lies  before  our  work  in 
Turkey.  Many  and  startling  changes 
are  inevitable,  to  meet  which  we  must 
be  prepared.  Even  greater  trials 
may  perforce  be  endured  before  the 
blessed  day  of  readjustment  and  re¬ 
construction  begins,  and  yet  as  surely 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


I  I 


as  day  follows  the  darkest  night,  so 
may  we  confidently  expect  light  will 
break  through  the  midnight  darkness 
of  Turkey’s  awful  gloom. 

That  the  work  is  to  be  reor¬ 
ganized  and  reestablished  we  do  not 
for  a  moment  doubt.  To  do  this  we 
will  need  the  best  wisdom  and 
strength  of  the  experienced  force  as 
well  as  the  aid  of  the  new  missionaries 
now  ready  to  move  when  the  door 
opens.  There  are  probably  many  Ar¬ 
menians  also  now  out  of  the  country 
who  will  be  ready  to  go  to  the  aid  of 
their  stricken  people.  The  American 
Board  is  already  planning  and  prepar¬ 
ing  for  the  new  day  that  will  yet  dawn 
for  Turkey. 

AMERICAN  INTERESTS  IN 
TURKEY 

Measured  by  the  amount  of  money 
invested  in  Turkey  and  by  the  number 
of  Americans  devoting  their  lives, 
through  religious,  educational,  and 
charitable  institutions,  in  that  coun¬ 
try,  America’s  interest  in  the  Turkish 
Empire  surpasses  that  of  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  A  careful  esti¬ 
mate,  based  on  reports  from  the  vari¬ 
ous  organizations,  societies,  and  col¬ 
leges  carrying  on  work  in  that  coun¬ 
try,  reveals  the  fact  that  during 
nearly  a  century  of  benevolent  work 
in  and  for  Turkey  Americans  have 
expended  nearly  $40,000,000,  about 
$8,000,000  of  which  represent  the 
value  of  present  investments  in  real 
estate,  buildings,  and  equipment.  The 
expenditure  of  these  various  organ¬ 
izations  and  societies  amounted  last 
year  to  something  over  $1,000,000, 
and  the  institutions  established  in 
that  country  by  American  benevo¬ 
lence  have  endowments  of  nearly- 
$3,500,000. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  there 
were  something  more  than  four  hun¬ 
dred  Americans  connected  with  these 
various  institutions  and  work.  The 
American  Board’s,  including  of  course 
the  Woman’s  Boards,  investments  in 
that  country  have  amounted,  in  the 
ninety-six  years  since  it  began  work 


there,  to  more  than  $20,000,000 ;  its 
present  investments,  in  the  form  of 
land,  buildings,  equipment,  are  valued 
at  not  less  than  $2,000,000,  and  its  an¬ 
nual  appropriation  for  the  direct  sup¬ 
port  of  its  work  there  was  last  year 
$380,000.  It  is  perfectly  natural, 
therefore,  for  America  to  be  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  situation  in  Turkey  quite 
apart  from  its  human  interest  in  the 
sufferings  of  a  race. 

These  figures  do  not  by  any  means 
measure  the  extent  of  America’s  in¬ 
terest  in  the  people  of  Turkey.  We 
are  mentioning  here  only  the  material 
things;  but  when  we  pass  beyond 
these  to  the  higher  things  of  the  spirit 
our  interest  is  increased  a  hundred 
fold  and  more. 

It  is  quite  fitting  that  the  United 
States  Government  should  take  special 
steps  for  the  protection  of  American 
interests  in  that  country,  and  the 
right  to  do  so  would  be  unquestion¬ 
ably  recognized  by  the  Allies,  at  least 
if  it  should  be  necessary  for  our  Gov¬ 
ernment  to  make  strong  demands 
upon  Turkey  for  adequate  protection. 

AN  HONOR  ROLL 

In  view  of  the  unprecedented  up¬ 
heaval  in  Turkey  at  this  time  it  is  in¬ 
teresting  to  note  the  large  number  of 
veteran  missionaries  either  in  active 
service  in  Turkey  or  retired.  The 
following  are  now  among  the  active 
forces  in  the  field  or  temporarily 
home,  arranged  in  the  order  of  years 
of  service: — 

Appointed 


Rev.  James  F.  Clarke,  D.D.  1859 

Mrs.  Margaret  R,  Trowbridge  1861 

Rev.  Henry  S.  Barnum,  D.D.  1867 

Rev.  Alpheus  N.  Andrus,  D.D.  1868 

Mrs.  Olive  L.  Andrus  “ 

Miss  Harriet  G.  Powers 
Mrs.  Ursula  C.  Marsh 
Mrs.  Sarah  D.  Riggs  1869 


Rev.  George  C.  Raynolds,  M.D., 

D.D.  1869 

Miss  Mary  M.  Patrick,  Ph.D.  1871 

Rev.  John  W.  Baird  1872 

Mrs.  Ellen  R.  Baird  1870 

Daniel  M.  B.  Thom,  M.D.  1874 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


I  2 

The  following  have  retired  from 
active  service: 

Appointed 


Rev.  Orson  P.  Allen  1855 

Rev.  Joseph  K.  Greene,  D.D.  1859 

Rev.  George  F.  Herrick,  D.D.  1859 

Mrs.  Helen  M.  Herrick  1860 

Mrs.  Henrietta  Washburn  1864 

Rev.  Henry  T.  Perry,  D.D.  1866 

Rev.  Theodore  A.  Baldwin  1867 

Mrs.  Matilda  J.  Baldwin  1867 

Rev.  Charles  C.  Tracy,  D.D.  1867 

Mrs.  Myra  P.  Tracy  1867 

Miss  Esther  T.  Maltbie  1870 


THE  NOBLE  DEAD 

It  is  a  startling  and  significant  fact 
that  of  the  six  deaths  among  the  ac¬ 
tive  missionary  forces  of  the  year,  five 
were  missionaries  in  Turkey.  The 
strain  and  shock  of  the  tragedies  of 
the  year  have  been  unsurpassed  in 
mission  history  in  duration,  extent, 
and  savagery.  The  cumulative  effect 
of  the  tension  is  seen  in  the  fact  that 
all  of  these  deaths  have  occurred 
since  the  first  of  May  of  this  year. 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Barnum  died  at  Har- 
poot,  May  9,  1915,  after  56  years  of 
consecutive  service.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Dr.  Goodell,  one  of  the 
pioneer  missionaries  in  Turkey,  and 
her  daughter,  Mrs.  Henry  Riggs,  is  a 
missionary  at  Harpoot. 

July  11,  1915,  Miss  Charlotte  E.  Ely 
died  at  Bitlis,  Turkey,  after  47  years 
of  consecutive  service  there. 

July  14,  1915,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  B. 
Ussher  died  at  Van,  Turkey,  of  ty¬ 
phus,  after  16  years  of  service. 

August  9,  1915,  Miss  H.  Grace 
Wyckoff  died  at  San  Gabriel,  Cal., 
after  28  years  of  service  at  Pang- 
chwang,  North  China. 

August  10,  1915,  Rev.  George  P. 
Knapp  died  at  Diarbekir,  Turkey, 
upon  his  way  out  from  Bitlis,  after  25 
years  of  service  at  Harpoot  and  Bitlis. 

August  27,  1915,  Mrs.  Martha  W. 
Raynolds  died  at  Tiflis,  Russia,  fol¬ 
lowing  the  flight  of  the  station  from 
Van,  after  46  years  of  service,  43  of 
which  were  given  to  Van. 

The  total  years  of  service  given  to 


the  cause  of  the  Kingdom  by  these  six 
disciples  was  215,  or  an  average  of  36 
years  for  each.  The  five  Turkey  mis¬ 
sionaries  give  a  total  of  187  years  of 
service,  or  an  average  of  37  1-2  years 
per  missionary.  Who  will  attempt  to 
estimate  the  permanent  spiritual 
values  these  consecrated  years  have 
created  and  perpetuated? 

In  addition  to  the  number  of  mis¬ 
sionaries  who  fell  in  the  midst  of  the 
conflict  there,  eight  others  who  had 
served  in  the  field  for  a  period  but 
who  for  one  reason  or  another  had  re¬ 
tired  have  been  called  to  a  higher 
service: — 

October  11,  1914,  Rev.  William  E. 
Locke,  D.D.,  at  Wellesley,  Mass.  In 
Bulgaria  24  years. 

November  22,  1914,  Mrs.  Sarah  F. 
Blodgett,  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.  In 
North  China  38  years. 

February  8,  1915,  Rev.  W.  H. 

Shaw,  at  Braintree,  Mass.  In  North 
China  4  years. 

February  15,  1915,  George  Wash¬ 
burn,  D.D.,  in  Boston,  Mass.  Dr. 
Washburn  was  a  missionary  of  the 
Board  for  10  years  at  Constantinople, 
Turkey,  followed  by  40  years’  service 
as  president,  professor,  and  officer  of 
Robert  College. 

March  10,  1915,  Mrs.  Fannie  M. 
Newell,  at  Wolfboro,  N.  H.  For  17 
years  in  Western  Turkey. 

April  7,  1915,  Rev.  Walter  T.  Cur¬ 
rie,  D.D.,  at  New  Victoria,  B.  C.  For 
25  years  in  West  Central  Africa. 

April  2,  1915,  Capt.  Isaiah  Bray,  at 
Honolulu,  H.  I.  For  9  years  captain 
of  the  third  and  fourth  Morning 
Stars  in  Micronesia. 

April  12,  1915,  Mrs.  Harriet  A. 
Lotta  (Miss  Sheldon),  at  Fargo, 
N.  Dak.  Worked  among  the  Cherokee 
Indians  for  a  brief  period  in  1856. 

A  glorious  company  who  counted 
not  their  lives  dear  unto  themselves. 

WHAT  NEXT  IN  TURKEY? 

Fifteen  years  ago  the  entire  world 
stood  aghast  at  the  desperate  situa¬ 
tion  presented  by  the  uprising  of 
China  against  everything  Western 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


13 


and  Christian.  Over  100  missionaries 
and  thousands  of  Chinese  Christians 
were  cruelly  killed,  or  hunted  like 
wild  beasts.  Mission  stations  were 
uprooted,  and  for  weeks  the  mission¬ 
aries  and  foreign  embassies  in  Pe¬ 
king  were  under  fire  from  the  Boxers 
and  the  regular  troops  of  the  Empress 
Dowager. 

Protests  appeared  in  the  press  and 
were  presented  to  the  Board  against 
making  any  further  sacrifice  in  a 
fruitless  attempt  to  carry  Christian¬ 
ity  to  a  nation  that  thus  unequivocally 
declared  that  it  would  have  none  of  it. 
Letters  poured  in  upon  the  officers  of 
the  Board  pleading  that  reason  and 
common  sense  and  not  blind  fanati¬ 
cism  be  given  place  in  its  counsels, 
urging  at  the  same  time  that  we  as  a 
Board  withdraw  all  our  missionaries 
from  the  country  and  leave  China  to 
her  ancestral  religion.  Other  counsels 
prevailed.  The  destroyed  stations 
were  rebuilt  and  more  substantial  and 
larger  than  before.  In  the  place  of 
the  martyred  dead  new  recruits  of¬ 
fered  themselves  and  were  appointed. 
In  two  years  outward  reconstruction 
was  about  completed  and  the  inner 
heart  of  the  Chinese  began  to  open 
in  astonishing  response  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  message.  Today  the  readiness 
and  even  eagerness  of  that  Empire, 
mighty  in  numbers  and  opportunity, 
presents  a  field  for  the  promotion  of 
missions  in  all  their  varied  activities 
never  before  experienced  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  missionary  enterprise. 

We  must  remember  at  this  time 
when  we  face  the  situation  in  Turkey 
that  the  hate  and  power  of  Rome  with 
all  its  bloody  onslaught  was  not  pow¬ 
erful  enough  to  crush  the  early 
Church.  The  ambitious  and  hard¬ 
hearted  Queen  of  Madagascar  was 
unable  to  prevent  the  perpetuation  of 
the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  among  her 
persecuted  people.  Uganda  suffered 
and  bled,  but  the  Church  continued  to 
thrive.  The  martyr  graves  with 
cruel  rapidity  multiplied  in  China  and 
became  the  foundation  of  the  most 
striking  turning  towards  Christianity 


witnessed  in  all  history,  not  except¬ 
ing  the  days  of  the  Apostles. 

Shall  we  then  falter  at  the  blow 
struck  our  Armenian  brethren  in  the 
Turkish  Empire?  Is  this  a  time  to 
discuss  whether  we  shall  advance  or 
retreat?  Not  a  missionary  among  the 
hundred  and  fifty  and  more  today 
dwelling  amid  the  horrors  of  count¬ 
less  graves  and  desolated  homes  and 
face  to  face  with  the  perils  of  dread 
diseases  but  would  plead  with  us  not 
to  desert  their  people  now.  Those  with 
us  who  have  come  out  of  great  tribula¬ 
tion,  bearing  in  their  bodies  the 
marks  of  the  perils  through  which 
they  have  passed  and  the  suffering 
they  have  borne,  would  rebuke  our 
faith  and  shame  our  courage  if  we 
plan  aught  less  than  a  courageous  ad¬ 
vance  as  soon  as  the  door  of  that 
closed  country  opens  to  the  world. 

Then  with  Christian  fortitude  and 
daring  let  us  tell  our  brethren  here 
and  over  there  that  we  are  ready  to 
stand  with  them  and  sacrifice  with 
them  and  suffer  with  them,  assured 
-  that 

“Behind  the  dim  unknown, 

Standeth  God  within  the  shadow, 

Keeping  watch  above  his  own.” 

We  shall  nqed  young  men  and 
women  to  fill  up  the  ranks  and  lead  in 
the  greater  work  yet  to  be.  We  must 
have  support  in  rebuilding  where  sta¬ 
tions  have  been  injured  or  destroyed 
as  well  as  in  the  construction  of  new 
and  larger  facilities  for  meeting  the 
demands  of  the  years  right  before  us. 
Now  is  the  time  to  prepare  for  the 
orders  to  go  forward  that  are  sure  to 
come  in  the  near  future. 

NO  RETREAT  ANYWHERE 

Now  and  then  some  one  says,  “Why 
not  let  the  powers  of  death  and  de¬ 
struction  have  the  field  and  we  with¬ 
draw  from  the  fray?”  “What’s  the 
use?”  says  another,  and  “Why  press 
the  claims  of  Christian  missions  now 
when  the  world  is  war  mad?”  Is  that 
a  sentiment  to  which  we  can  for  a  mo- 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


ment  give  place?  Where  is  our 
Christian  daring,  where  our  faith 
and  fortitude,  if  we  cringe  before  the 
forces  of  evil  because  they  are  mighty 
and  because  the  conflict  promises  to 
be  long  and  deadly !  Had  the  disciples 
used  that  argument  there  would  have 
been  no  church  at  Antioch,  no  mis¬ 
sionaries  ordained  there  for  world 
conquest,  no  response  to  the  call  of 
the  man  of  Macedonia  for  spiritual 
help.  Had  Jesus  Christ  shaped  his 
life  by  such  a  policy,  there  would  have 
been  no  flight  from  Nazareth,  no  be¬ 
trayal  in  Gethsemane,  no  crown  of 
thorps,  no  scourging,  no  Calvary. 
Under  the  impulse  of  such  a  program 
for  the  Christian  Church,  Jesus  would 
have  yielded  in  the  desert  to  the 
tempter  and  the  powers  of  evil  would 
have  dominated  him  and  the  world. 

If  there  was  ever  a  time  when  ev¬ 
ery  one  who  bears  the  name  Christian 
needed  to  take  up  his  cross  and  follow 
his  Lord  into  the  thick  of  the  battle 
of  passion  against  the  spirit  of  the 
Christ,  it  is  here  and  now.  If  there 
was  ever  a  time  when  the  entire  world 
called  for  Christian  daring  and  sacri¬ 
fice,  a  daring  that  halts  at  no  task, 
a  sacrifice  that  falters  at  nothing, 
it  is  now.  Hatred  and  evil  passions 
must  be  met  and  overcome  by  love  that 
believeth,  hopeth,  endureth,  all  things. 
“Finally,  be  strong  in  the  Lord  and 
in  the  strength  of  his  might.  Put  on 
the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye  may 


be  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of 
the  devil.  For  our  wrestling  is  not 
against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
the  principalities,  against  the  powers, 
against  the  world  rulers  of  this  dark¬ 
ness,  against  the  spiritual  hosts  of 
wickedness  in  the  heavenly  places. 
Wherefore  take  up  the  whole  armor 
of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  with¬ 
stand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done 
all  to  stand. ” 

STATISTICS 

The  statistics  added  hereto,  owing 
to  war  conditions  affecting  so  large 
a  portion  of  our  mission  fields,  are 
most  unsatisfactory.  Of  course,  no 
returns  could  be  obtained  from  the 
three  missions  in  Turkey,  the  Bal¬ 
kans,  Austria,  the  Micronesian  Is¬ 
lands,  and  Mexico.  The  following 
table  is  made  up  by  using  the  returns 
of  a  year  ago  in  the  case  of  missions 
not  reporting.  Statistics  give  only  a 
small  part  of  the  story  of  the  volume 
and  force  of  the  work  connected  with 
the  missions  of  the  Board  around  the 
world.  Perhaps  in  the  number  of  the 
trained  native  Christian  leaders  .and 
in  the  contributions  made  by  the  na¬ 
tive  Christians  themselves  for  the 
support  of  the  work  is  to  be  found 
the  clearest  demonstration  of  the  vol¬ 
ume  of  the  working  force  and  the  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  of  those  who 
make  up  the  Christian  communities. 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS  15 

GENERAL  SUMMARY,  1914-1915 
Missions 

Number  of  Missions .  19 

Number  of  Stations .  103 

Number  of  Outstations . 1,458 

Places  for  stated  preaching . 2,006 

Laborers  Employed 

Number  of  ordained  Missionaries  (8  being  Physicians) .  175 

Number  of  Male  Physicians  not  ordained  (besides  16  women)  ....  28 

Number  of  other  Male  Assistants .  28 

Number  of  Women  (16  of  them  Physicians)  (wives  208,  unmarried  218)  .  .  426 

Whole  number  of  Laborers  sent  from  this  country  * .  657 

Number  of  Native  Pastors .  336 

Number  of  Native  Preachers  and  Catechists .  412 

Number  of  Native  School-teachers . *  .  .  2,464 

Number  of  other  Native  Laborers  ........  1,565 

Total  of  Native  Laborers . 4,777 

Total  of  American  and  Native  Laborers . 5,438 

The  Churches 

Number  of  Churches .  676 

Number  of  Church  Members .  80,844 

Added  during  the  year . 5,834 

Whole  number  from  the  first,  as  nearly  as  can  be  learned .  235,207 

Number  of  Sunday  Schools . 1,452 

Sunday  School  membership .  85,769 

Educational  Department 

Number  of  Theological  Seminaries  and  Training  Classes .  14 

Students  for  the  Ministry .  295 

Students  in  Collegiate  Training . 3,036 

Boarding  and  High  Schools .  122 

Number  of  Pupils  in  these  Schools . 12,527 

Number  of  Common  Schools  .  . 1,432 

Number  of  Pupils  in  Common  School .  67,824 

Whole  number  under  instruction .  83,591 

Native  Contributions,  so  far  as  reported . $367,391 


*  Including  14  detained  by  the  war. 


